House Malinax was a Traitor Imperial Knight House that repudiated its oaths to the Emperor of Mankind and followed the Warmaster Horus into the service of the Ruinous Powers during the Horus Heresy. The Knight House of Malinax was founded shortly after the rediscovery and incorporation of the Forge World of Xana II, located on the western fringe of the galaxy in the Vicidax Thule Sector within the Segmentum Pacificus. The newly-created Knight House went on to serve with distinction in some of the Great Crusade's more savage campaigns and alongside the Titans of the Legio Vulturum and the Taghmata Scoria throughout the later days of the Great Crusade.
Ultimately, Xana II would attempt to serve both Loyalist and Traitor alike when the Horus Heresy erupted in the early 31st Millennium. When evidence mounted against the recalcitrant Forge World that there was substantial double-dealing occurring despite Xana II's professed neutrality in the internecine conflict, Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion and Praetorian of Terra, declared Xana II Traitoris Perdita and under sentence of death in 007.M31. This later led to the desperate covert campaign conducted by the Loyalists known as the Xana Incursion in 009.M31. House Malinax defended one of Xana's major forge-fanes from an assault by Loyalist forces. Forced to choose a side, Xana II ultimately declared for the Traitor cause and followed them into damnation. With the failure of the Traitors and the death of Horus during the Siege of Terra, it is presumed that House Malinax fled alongside their Dark Mechanicum masters into the Eye of Terror where they still reside upon the Hell-Forge of Xana II, deep within that nightmare realm.
History
House Malinax Questoris Knight Styrix Colour Scheme
The Forge World of Xana II was accidentally rediscovered in 843.M30, when a damaged galleass belonging to the Rogue Trader Casilida DeAniasie, having been flung far off-course after engaging in battle with Fra'al Corsairs, intercepted a trio of hulking automata warships at the edge of the intergalactic void. Although they might have taken or destroyed her already-damaged ship with little effort, these vessels instead offered aid and carried with them a message of greeting and an offer of diplomatic exchange between the "Sovereign Forge Domain of Xana" and the Imperium of Man and its Emperor. The Xanite vessels made good on their intentions by taking the stricken galleass back under tow to the Xana System itself, where it was repaired and resupplied for its journey home with exemplary speed, and the Rogue Trader treated with courtesy and honour. Negotiations between the Imperium and Xana soon followed upon the Rogue Trader's return.
The Knight House of Malinax was founded shortly after the incorporation of the Forge World of Xana into the Imperium as part of the re-alignment of native Xanite armed forces to better serve the Great Crusade. This would include the incorporation of the Malin-Qatlu Scion Bloodline, a regressed House which was at that stage without an extant world of its own and with few remaining operable Knights. This cadre of scions was provided with fresh machines and bound by blood and oath to the Lords of Xana, and would form thenceforth part of Xana's new order of battle. Brought back from the edge of extinction, the newly patented House of Malinax would serve with distinction in the savage wars of the Rangdan Xenocides, and detachments would continue to fight alongside the Titans of the Legio Vultorum and the Taghmata Setna and Taghmata Scoria throughout the later Great Crusade.
As the Horus Heresy suddenly and bloodily unfolded in the early 31st Millennium, Xana's isolation only increased and it was a situation its ruling synod of Magi, known as the Vodian Consistory, did little to attempt to outwardly alleviate, choosing initially neither faction to favour, avowing, at least publicly, that the matter was an "internal matter of the Great Crusade's military" in which they had no direct involvement. As the war went on with no clear avenue of victory in sight, both sides looked to the increasingly bellicose and active Forge World of Xana II with renewed interest. In their years of isolation since the civil war's outbreak, the forges of Xana had not been idle and evidence began to amass that a vast and well-guarded stockpile of munitions and war machines had been built up in the system, and readied as if for shipment to a client, but to what end or to whom remained unclear. Eventually, Primarch Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian of Terra, made an open proclamation declaring the Forge World of Xana II Traitoris Perdita and under sentence of death. House Malinax would go on to serve at the whims of the Lords of Xana, and willingly follow them into damnation.
When the Heresy ultimately failed, during the final epic battle, known as the Siege of Terra, it is presumed that House Malinax fled alongside their Dark Mechanicum masters, and now resides deep within the hellish reality of the Eye of Terror, still standing sentinel over the Hell-Forge of Xana II.
Homeworld
The Forge World of Xana II was a potent and storied example of its kind, an Ultima II-grade facility rated as one of the most capable Forge Worlds of the Imperium, and unmatched in its region of the galaxy. It comprised a main planetary sphere, Xana II, with a number of inhabited moons and extensive mobile sub-faculties in the form of void and gas-mining installations scattered throughout the debris belts and turbulent atmosphere of the macro-magnitude gas giant, Xana I, around which the Forge World orbited. Its position was on the very far tip of the galactic arm of the western fringe, granting it the title on the star charts of the Carta Imperialis as "Occidentem Thule" -- the last great port on the edge of the intergalactic abyss.
Notable Campaigns
- Rangdan Xenocides (ca. late 800's.M30) - Following their inclusion in the nascent Imperium of Man, the Xanite forces hurled themselves and broke their greater strength in countless battles against vile xenos on the edge of the Halo Stars, becoming shattered remnants of their former selves, but earned much honour in doing so for their Forge World. More importantly, weapons and arms poured forth from Xana II and were shipped directly to the segmentum-wide battle lines of the war, providing much needed respite and fresh strength to beleaguered Imperial forces, helping to slowly turn the tide of defeat into first stalemate and eventually victory. It was a victory Xana was in no small part bled dry to achieve.
- Fall of Prospero (734.004.M31) - Upon direct order of the Warmaster Horus, a detachment of House Malinax entering finishing stages of a re-armament cycle on Beta-Garmon were requisitionned to reinforce the Censure Host sent by the Emperor of Mankind to call the Thousand Sons Legion of the Legiones Astartes to task for the suspected actions of their Primarch magnus the Red in violating the Decrees of Nikaea. Joining the armies of Leman Russ and Constantin Valdor, House Malinax played a minor role in the ensuing campaign, the detachment of eighteen Knights deployed to the southern borders of Prospero's capital city of Tizca, near the independent forge-fane of the Zhao-Arkhad Forge World. Despite the presence of the rare and powerful Acastus Knight Porphyrion amongst their ranks, the Knights of House Malinax were no match for the Titans of the Legio Xestobiax which defended the forge-fane and which had almost entirely annihilated the forces of the Legio Mortis put against them. Instead of facing annihilation, the remaining Knights entered the vast city of Tizca and supported the troops of the Imperial Army in their mop-up operations against the last nests of enemy resistance, especially that of the Prosperine Spireguard, leaving the secretive Ordo Sinister to battle the enemy Titans.
- Raid of Guilders Grave (008.M31) - The raid on the world of Guilders Grave is the first known example of the Xanite Mechanicum forces conducting an aggressive military operation to their own ends, engaging both Traitor and Loyalist auxiliary forces in open battle in order to achieve their aims of looting the Mining World of Guilders Grave of its resources and heavy machinery. The vanguard of the Xanite forces during this attack were several maniples of Mechanicum Knights, at least two of which have been identified as belonging to the sinister House Malinax. This was a force which the defenders of Guilders Grave could not hope to match in firepower or resilience, resulting in a complete massacre of the local forces.
The Knights of House Malinax defend the forge-fane of Setna, during the Xana Incursion
- Xana Incursion (009.M31) - The Xana Incursion was a desperate covert campaign conducted by a Legiones Astartes Blackshield irregular force as well as a small contingent of Dark Angels against the recalcitrant Forge World of Xana II in 009.M31, during the galactic civil war known as the Horus Heresy. Intelligence had reached Terra that the Renegade Forge World on the western fringe of the Imperium had reached an accord with the Traitor forces to supply the Warmaster's armies with vast output of arms and material. The bargain was to be sealed with the delivery by Xana of a number of newly created powerful Ordinatus class weapons undergoing final field tests. In what was effectively a suicide mission, a handpicked force of Astartes, including many Blackshields -- Space Marines who had chosen to remain loyal despite their parent Legion's treachery -- was despatched under great secrecy to destroy the war machines and drive a wedge between Xana and the Traitors. During the Loyalist assault, the veteran warriors of House Malinax defended the major forge-fane of Setna from the Loyalists' assault, and successfully halted their progress. Two Ordinatus were captured by the Loyalist force and evacuated from the surface of Xana-Tisiphone, to be maintained and utilised by Loyalist tech-magi in later campaigns of the Heresy.
Notable House Malinax Knights
- Itzilnan (Cerastus Knight-Lancer) - The Itzilnan is one of the oldest Knights still in service amongst its House, a fact acknowledged by the lack of Mechanicum-related insignia in Itzilnan’s livery. A veteran of the Great Crusade, where it fought for more than a standard century, the Itzilnan was deployed to Prospero, the homeworld of the Thousand Sons Legion as part of the Imperial Censure Host. Landing well after the Space Wolves as part of the second assault wave, the Itzilnan concentrated its efforts on supporting the Imperial Army's advance through Tizca. In particular, Itzilnan helped the Imperial troops to crush the resistance of the remaining regiments of Prosperine Spireguard which had barricaded themselves into the Airguard's Headquarters. In this single engagement, Itzilnan has been confirmed to have been responsible for more than 100 infantry kills, thus cementing House Malinax's reputation for bloodthrist within the Imperial Army.
- Matonari (Cerastus Knight-Atrapos) - The Matonari was a rare Cerastus Atrapos subtype, a platform for a particular set of technologically arcane weaponry intended for deployment against hardened targets and heavy armour. It was known for having taken part in the raid on the world of Guilders Grave. Matonari served in the assault as a leading element of an attacking Knight detachment. It is known to have taken part in the sub-engagement raid on the Yellow Atallo sub-orbital transit depot in 008.M31.
- Xaulhqui (Questoris Knight Styrix) - Xaulhqui is known to have taken part in the Defence of the Barbican Gate at forge-fane Setnat during the Xana Incursion. Additional ident-markers in register also indicates that this Knight also participated in such campaigns as the Siege of Arrian Mysteries, the Brycantia Purge and the Tyrian Suppression.
- Xotlatlic (Acastus Knight Porphyrion) - Piloted by Scion Machtectlan, an illustrious member of one of House Malinax's pre-eminent bloodlines, the Xotlatlic was one of two rare Acastus Knight Porphyrions deployed to the surface of Prospero during the Battle of Prospero. The Acastus Porphyrion's firepower is such that it can even damage a Titan, which the Xortlatlic indeed managed to achieve whilst it battled the Titans of the Prosperine Vigil of the Legio Xestobiax.
House Appearance
House Malinax Questoris Knight Styrix Xaulhqui Honour Banner, depicting the triple-tailed scorpion, and the simplistic Xana II Forge World icon as a cog with a letter "X" centred within
House Colours
Much of the heraldic panoply of the re-formed House of Malinax was taken from the predatory megafauna that was surprisingly common on the Forge World on which they were based. The distinctive colouration of their primary armour was in fact ritually created from the dense, silicate-rich bone plates harvested from Xana II's gigantic armoured Regathok Ursids, the augmented skull of which also formed the core icon of Xana's Taghmata forces.
House Arms
The tripled-tailed scorpion utilised by House Malinax as their house's heraldry pre-dates the pact with Xana. It owes its origin to the ancient sigil of the Malin-Qatlu, later rendered as "Transfigured by the Omnissiah" as the House's Xanite Sacristans had it, to a purer, more blessed form. The icon of the Malinax clan, the three-tailed scorpion clutching the symbol of Xana II, is a traditional symbol of the relationship between the bonded house and its patron forge.
Sources
- The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 71, 76-79
- The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 63-64, 101, 104-107, 295
Gallery
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